Another week, and another political conference! It kicked off with day two of the Tory conference, and it was the turn of Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride to deliver his speech (who, you may be asking…?!) As he took to the stage, the auditorium was almost empty. I counted about 55 people there. You could probably fit the whole lot in the back of a coach! It seems not even the Tories are interested in the Tories anymore. From people I have spoken to, the mood was definitely downbeat, with delegates deserting the main hall for the various bars to drown their sorrows. 
After 14 years of a Conservative government, Britain’s small businesses are still being crushed by taxes, red tape, and now a Labour government that doesn’t care. Reform UK is the only party that gets it, because we actually listen to the people who run businesses.And many of us in the senior team have also run businesses. If you own a small or medium-sized business, we want to hear from you. Take just 60 seconds to fill in our quick survey. Your voice will shape our fight to make Britain pro-business again. Whilst all that was going on,I had a busy day of meetings at Reform HQ, where we planned our strategy, building up to next May’s crucial elections - local, mayoral and the Welsh and Scottish Elections. Make no mistake, we will mount vibrant, exciting and compelling campaigns At 5 pm, a brutal poll for Kemi Badenoch dropped from Sky News. It showed that 50% of Tory members want Kemi Badenoch to resign as leader. It showed that even her own party members don’t rate her! What a disastrous start to her conference. 
Later that night, it emerged that James Cleverly labelled Nigel Farage a ‘socialist’. He’d clearly had too much wine. It’s worth remembering Cleverly was part of a government that tripled national debt, raised the tax burden to an 80-year high and increased Government spending to Soviet Union levels. On Tuesday morning, the penultimate day of the Tory conference, Reform UK swung into action with a targeted assault. As the clock struck 7 am, we kicked off a wave of announcements revealing a long list of councillors defecting to Reform UK. Every ten minutes, another name joined, each one leaving the Conservatives reeling. The news completely overshadowed their conference - every interview and discussion was dominated by our growing momentum. On Wednesday morning, before I set off on this week’s Chairman’s Tour, a new record poll dropped from More in Common. It shows Reform UK is on a whopping 33%, with a huge 13% lead over Labour. The Tories dropped yet another point - down to an embarrassing 19%. Not exactly the conference bounce the Tories would have hoped for! 
Later that day, we had Kemi’s conference speech. I sat there thinking there were some very good policy announcements which seemed extraordinarily familiar. And then I realised they were! They had pretty much copied and pasted our policies on immigration, education, farming and announced a very similar policy on stamp duty. The fact of the matter is, if you want the real deal, then the only sensible choice is to vote for Reform UK. In a jolting moment, which almost woke me up from my slumber, was Kemi’s assertion where she accused Nigel of shaking a “magic money tree.” Not only was it factually incorrect, but the irony of that statement was staggering. She must have been asleep for the past 14 years! One of my favourite hollow promises was her pledge to shrink the civil service back to the size it was nearly a decade ago. Ummm… Who oversaw that explosion in bureaucracy? Oh yes. That would be the Conservatives themselves. It was like watching arsonists lecture us all on fire safety! Desperate to get away, I hit the road for night one of this week’s Chairman’s Tour.After a long train to Newcastle, we arrived at the venue to be greeted by the excellent regional director, Neil McCabe. It was great to catch up with Neil and hear what great progress Reform is making in the North East. In the Newcastle area, which has always been tribally and traditionally Labour, we are not polling at the national average of 33%. No. We are polling higher, at a walloping 36%. This is now a firm Reform heartland. And right on cue, as we arrived at the venue ahead of the doors opening, there were hundreds of people queuing outside. The energy and enthusiasm for Reform UK around the UK right now is like nothing I have ever seen before. The event kicked off at 7 pm to a sellout crowd. First off, we heard from Irene Turnbull, who discussed the progress that Reform has made in Newcastle, including many of the challenges the local area faces with law and order. Next was the turn of Reform UK board member and deputy leader of Durham County Council, Darren Grimes. He, as always, didn’t fail to deliver. He set the room alight with his humour and wit. I’m sure his accent got stronger with each line he delivered! He discussed the woke ideology that he has faced at Council level, Net Zero madness and what Reform are doing to root it out. He also discussed what the council is doing to deliver for local people. Then it was my turn. I spoke about the progress we have made this week and why the Tories, despite all their noise this week, are dead. I then took a series of questions from those in the audience - not all easy to answer. But all in all - a great evening! The North East always delivers! 
You can watch a video we made from that night by clicking the image below.
Thursday marked a major milestone for Reform UK. Following Keith Prince’s defection last week, we officially formed a group on the London Assembly for the very first time. Led by Alex Wilson AM, our team at City Hall will be a strong voice holding Sadiq Khan to account. You can watch this week’s exchange with the Mayorhere. Later that day, I was back on the train heading to Leeds. Once we arrived, we went straight to a lunch with business leaders - not all on side with Reform when we started, but they seemed fairly convinced by the time the main course had been served. I then had to rush back to my hotel because I was due on TalkTV with my good friend Jeremy Kyle at 4 pm, and got there with seconds to spare. We had a great chat about Reform’s progress and the Tory conference, and how we will keep our amazing momentum up in the coming weeks and months. You can watch the full interviewhere. Straight from that, we made our way to another evening event where we were warmly greeted by our fantastic Yorkshire team, led by Roger Tattersall. The event began at 7 pm to a packed audience of 250 people. We kicked off with inspiring speeches from local activists and candidates who spoke about why Yorkshire is ready for real change, including Councillor Ryan Taylor, who took to the stage. He talked about his route to being a councillor and the shocking state of Leeds Council. I then took to the stage to update everyone on Reform’s incredible growth and why the old parties no longer have the answers. The questions from the crowd were sharp, passionate and full of energy. I talked about how our plan to raise the income tax threshold to £20,000 will help thousands of people across Leeds. What a brilliant night, Leeds absolutely delivered! 
And to highlight just how crazy and deeply unglamorous a lot of our tour is, we made a behind-the-scenes video from this week, which you can watch here. It gives a real insight into my life on the road.
Thursday was also by-election day. I was delighted to see Reform UK had three fantastic council by-election wins this week! In North Northamptonshire, we held our seat and increased our vote share.
In Wychavon, we gained from the Conservatives, remarkably smashing them into third place! The Tory vote tanked.
And in Skelton East (Redcar & Cleveland), we achieved a record-breaking 65.3%of the vote, a huge result. A massive thank you to all our brilliant candidates and campaigners who made this possible. These results show one thing loud and clear: the Tory conference made no impact whatsoever. The momentum is with Reform UK. On Friday, Nigel joined the campaign in Caerphilly, where candidate Llŷr Powell introduced him to locals ahead of this month’s by-election. The visit highlighted the growing frustration among residents who feel let down by the main parties and ready for real change. Only Reform UK offers real change. Wales needs Reform! 🏴 A few months ago, we launched ReformGo, our brand-new mobile app and your personalised portal to the Reform family. It brings everything together: conference details, events, local campaigning, membership management, donations, and even a Reform-only social feed with exclusive posts from senior party figures. It’s already transforming how we connect and communicate, proving Reform is the most high-tech political party in Britain. ReformGo will also be an essential tool during our upcoming Action Day, so make sure you’re ready. If you haven’t yet,download ReformGo now from your app store and be part of the movement. Click the icon: 
And with that I’m off to prepare for another crazy week ahead. Have a lovely rest of your Sunday. | 
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